Best Friend
by Vixin2
Summary: A young Rachel Evens is visited by Firebrand. You can decide for yourself if this is connected to my TribeTwelve story if you want. I however would see it as sort of connected. Rated T just incase. Excuse me if I'm paranoid.


In a house late at night, there is a young girl of four with dark blonde hair sleeping soundly in bed dreaming that in a couple weeks, Santa will come with goodies for her to open up. The little girl was all warm and snug, without a care in the world. But then she woke up. She wasn't sure why, but she thought she heard something. She waited to see if mummy and daddy would wake up but they seemed asleep. She wondered if it would be a bad thing to go downstairs real quick to investigate the noise. Surely being curious wouldn't put her on Santa's naughty list?

She pulled her sheets off and crept to the door and softly opened it before looking in the direction of her parents room. They were still asleep. Time to move.

The little girl crept down the stairs and looked around the living room carefully. Everything seemed in place. Nothing out of the ordinary.

However, when she felt a hand cover her mouth, the little girl nearly shrieked but it came out muffled.

"Calm down", a voice whispered next to her ear. It sounded like an adult man. "I'm not going to hurt you". The girl whimpered as the hand was removed from her mouth and she turned around to look at the person behind her. He was older then her for sure, but not as old as her daddy. Maybe a little more then half his age? She also noticed that he had dark hair and seemed to have burns on his face. It made the little girl curious but she was thought it was rude to ask about thing like that so she didn't ask. She did however ask,

"Wh-who are you?" The man grinned down at her and said,

"My name? Well, it depends how you look at it, but you can just call me Firebrand".

"Firebrand?", the girl repeated as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Like those hot sticks they use on cows?" Firebrand laughed and ruffled her hair.

"No, but your sort of on the right track". When his laughter lessoned he asked, "since I told you my name, will you tell me yours?" He already knew but he didn't want to freak the kid out too much.

"Rachel", she answered simply.

"Rachel, huh? That's a pretty name", Firebrand told her. "I actually have a friend who used to go by that name".

"Used to?", Rachel repeated.

"It's a... bit of a complicated story. You would have to be older to understand it". Rachel pouted and Firebrand smiled down at her. Rachel had been a very adorable little girl. her hair was shorter but that hardly made a difference.

"So, why are you here?", Rachel asked Firebrand.

"I... wanted to see you of course", Firebrand answered, only hesitating a second. He wasn't sure what to do. He could faintly recall what had happened when he had been visited by the Collective as a kid, but he didn't remember every little thing. He really only signed up for this so Rachel wouldn't end up scared for life. He was grateful that Pierrot agreed to come with him so Observer wouldn't see a reason to come along, but she didn't actually want to see her former self. Why, he wasn't sure.

"Why?", Rachel asked him.

"Why? Well, why not?", Firebrand asked back. He only noticed now how much stronger Rachel's Irish accent was. It wasn't as strong when they grew older so it was a bit surprising to hear it again, even if she was younger.

"Mummy and daddy would be upset I think", Rachel frowned and Firebrand chuckled.

"Well, mommy and daddy won't find out. This will be our little secret", Firebrand said as he put a finger to his lips.

"But, daddy says I shouldn't keep secrets for strangers", Rachel said.

"Don't worry, I'm not a stranger", Firebrand assured. TECHNICALLY he wasn't lying. They just wouldn't meet as normal people for another seven years is all.

"Are you a guardian angel then?", Rachel's eyes lit up a little. Firebrand wanted to snort a little at the idea.

"Not really. Just a good friend".

"Really?"

"Yeah. Hey, how about we play a game?", Firebrand changed the subject.

"A game?", Rachel asked, looking very interested now. Firebrand chuckled.

"Yeah, a game", Firebrand nodded as he took out a deck of cards from his back pocket. "It's called blackjack. It's sort of a guessing game. I'm going to put a card down in front of you, and you have tell me if you want another card. However, you can't go over twenty one. But if you're closer to twenty one then me, or have twenty one, you win".

"I'm not great with numbers", Rachel said sheepishly. She was four after all.

"That's no problem, I'll help you out. Think of it as a way to prepare you for maths when you start school", Firebrand said. Rachel thought this over and nodded.

"Okay". Firebrand smiled and started to shuffle the deck. The reason he picked this game was because Pierrot always beat him at it. He wanted to see if a younger version of her, after a little training of course, could beat him.

They played for two hours at most, Rachel was a bit shakey, but was starting to get the hang of the game and became a bit more confident with it.

"You're doing pretty well", Firebrand smiled before he looked at a clock on the mantelpiece. "It's getting pretty late. You should go to bed now".

"Will you be here tomorrow?", Rachel asked quickly. Firebrand chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"Maybe not tomorrow, but soon. I promise".

"Pinky promise?", Rachel asked as she held a pinky finger out. Firebrand blinked but decided, why the hell not?

"Pinky promise", he murmured as he wrapped his pinky around her's.

This went on for a couple years. There was never really a set schedule. Sometimes it would days, other times weeks, but Rachel would always be grinning whenever she would find herself awake at night and would quietly yet quickly go down the stairs to find Firebrand waiting in the living room, waiting to play another game, the most often one being black jack.

It wouldn't last forever though.

At eight, Rachel was waken by nothing as usual and grinned since she knew what it meant. She never told anyone of Firebrand all these years, because he said people would think she was crazy. He was laughing when he said this but Rachel was still nervous about it.

"Firebrand? Where are you?", Rachel asked as she came to the living room. She frowned when she saw no one there. She briefly wondered if Firebrand was in the kitchen since they sometimes had late night snacks in there, or if this had in fact been a false alarm. But once she felt hands cover her brown eyes, Rachel giggled.

"Guess who~?", the oh so familiar voice asked in a playful manner.

"Firebrand", Rachel laughed.

"Aw, I thought this would have tricked you", Firebrand lightly joked as he took his hands off of Rachel's eyes. "So how are you Rachel? I saw you at your ballet thing".

"Really?", Rachel asked, a bit surprised by this and nervous about what he thought.

"Yeah", Firebrand nodded. "I thought you were the cutest of the little mermaid's older sisters. You were brilliant".

"I was", Rachel asked, feeling a blush come to her cheeks.

"You were. Maybe next time You'll be the little mermaid". Rachel giggled a bit at that.

"And you'll be there, right?" Firebrand for the first time since Rachel met him frowned. "What? What is it?"

"I'm... not going to be able to. I can't explain why, but we won't be able to see eachother after this".

"Wh... Why?", Rachel asked, her hands starting to tremble.

"It's... it's complicated. I can't really say why", Firebrand said sadly.

But... but I... you... I don't want you to go", Rachel whimpered. "You're my best friend". Firebrand chuckled and rubbed her cheek.

"I know. I don't want to go either, but I don't have a choice". He frowned as Rachel started blinking back tears and sighed a little as he brought her into a tight hug against his chest. "I know it hurts, I really do. Trust me, I would stay with you forever if I could".

"I wanna come with you", Rachel suddenly asked as she held her tears back. Firebrand tensed. He could see some irony in this situation. Rachel certainly wasn't going to say that in about thirteen years time.

"I... You really don't want to come with me. Trust me", Firebrand murmured as he stroked her hair.

"Wh-why?"

"It's... not a nice place. Lot's of mean, scary people".

"What about you, and the Pear Rot you mentioned?" If it wasn't for the fact Rachel was more or less crying now, he would have sniggered a little at how Rachel pronounced Pierrot. Instead he just hugged her tighter.

"Well, me and Pierrot are the only good people. The others are like... the boogie man", Firebrand tried to explain.

"But... but the boogie man doesn't exist. Daddy said so and he's really smart", Rachel sniffled. Firebrand smiled weakly.

"Well, these guys are the boogie man that most people don't know about".

"But you and Pear Rot are good ones?"

"Yeah. Yeah that's it". Seeing Rachel was still upset, he told her, "Rachel, I promise we'll meet again in a couple years, and after that we won't be apart ever again".

"Really? Y-you promise?", Rachel asked as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"I pinky promise", Firebrand said with a weak smile as he held his pinky out. Rachel looked at it hesitantly before wrapping her pinky around his. "You won't remember Rach'. I won't know you, and you won't know me, but we'll meet again and we'll be best friends no matter what".

"And you won't leave me again?", Rachel asked Firebrand as she looked directly into his eyes.

"I promise", Firebrand assured her. "How about I tuck you into bed and tell you a bedtime story. I have a special one you'll like".

"O-okay", Rachel nodded, wiping more tears from her eyes. Firebrand picked her up and walked upstairs to her bedroom and tucked her into her bed.

"Okay, ready?", Firebrand asked as he sat on the bed and looked at Rachel. Rachel nodded, ready to hear the story.

"Alright. So, once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a kingdom called Floridara where the sun always shun and it was hot most of the time. There was this castle near a big, blue canal and in it was this king who was known all across the land for being a pretty decent guy, and he was incredibly handsome to boot", Firebrand added as a joke as he tapped Rachel's nose. Rachel giggled in response.

"Now, the king had two best friends who were knights. The first knight was his cousin. He was a good guy, but was haunted by demons. The other knight...", Firebrand paused a minute and looked at Rachel before he continued. "...The other knight was a girl, a girl who had a special place in the king's heart, and who was the most beautiful person alive to him".

"Were they like mummy and daddy?", Rachel asked. Firebrand was a little taken back by this, but he chuckled a little.

"Sort of. The king and two knights were best friends and had a deep bond. They were incredibly close. But one day, the cousin was killed by poison. This devastated the king and remaining knight deeply, and as such were determined to find out what had happened. They talked to the king's grandfather for guidance, but he did not help. Soon, they found out however that the cousin had been killed by an evil sorcerer who had no face, and a group of evil elves! The sorcerer and elves wanted the king and knight to join them. The king and knight were not going to because the king saw they were evil and the knight was a noble woman.

"The sorcerer and elves did evil things to our heros. They kidnapped them and tormented their minds and made them miserable as well as killing off close friends. However, there was one good thing to come out of it. It brought the king and knight close together. Very close.

"However, the king and knight still had to fight against the sorcerer and his fiends, and to do that, they had to get a journal. The only problem was, that this journal was in the hands of the king's grandfather, who would not give it to them because he was a grumpy old man. The evil elves wanted the king and knight to get the journal for them because frankly, they were too lazy and were afraid of an old man.

"They king and knight fought valliently against them, without stop and did everything they could do to stop them. But they had plans to force the king to join on his twenty first birthday. They would either kill the knight, or make her join on her own twenty first birthday, since the two were only a month apart, and it wasn't long until the day came and...", Firebrand paused and looked a little unsure. Rachel hesitantly asked when Firebrand didn't continue,

"What happened? Did the sorcerer win? Did the king and knight live happily ever after?" Firebrand, who had been lost in his thoughts, was nearly startled by Rachel's questioned, but he then answered,

"The king and knight won. They defeated the sorcerer and freed the elves of the evil spell that was placed on them. The king and knight returned to their home in peace, and months later, they got married and lived... and lived happily ever after.

"Like we should have", Noah murmured to himself. Rachel didn't hear this line and was close to falling asleep.

"I... I liked that story", Rachel murmured. Firebrand chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"I promise we'll meet again. Now go to sleep". A few minutes later, Rachel was fast asleep. Firebrand smiled down at the child and stroked her cheek.

"We'll have that happy ending Rach'. I promise", Firebrand murmured before chuckling.

"Just don't expect me to propose so soon afterwords. Way too damn early".

* * *

**This idea came to me today and I wanted to do it. Deal with it. I felt if Noah get's visited as a child, so should Rachel, and who better then her future best friend? Also, the reason why Milo is a knight is because while browsing the wiki page, someone figured Swain (a white knight) was Milo since in the November 11th video, a little before 8:30, we see Milo cover his face. Looking over it myself, I'm kinda convinced Milo could be Swain, though I am taking this with a grain of salt.**

**Also, I just realised something. If Swain is Milo, and we assume Cursor is Mary Asher, that would mean all those Cursor/Swain fanfics were possible incest!**


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